


Act One

by Taurenova (JenNova)



Series: Words Will Bring Us Together [1]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Canon Blending, Canon Character of Color, Ensemble Cast, Epistolary, Matchmaking, Multi, Post-Canon, X-Men First Class Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-22
Updated: 2011-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenNova/pseuds/Taurenova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Through words they all try to rebuild what was lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Originally started for [prompt](http://1stclass-kink.livejournal.com/806.html?thread=13094#t13094) at 1stclass_kink.
> 
>  _Post-First Class, Raven, Beast, Havok et al scheme to get Erik and Charles back together._
> 
> It's gotten wildly out of hand. Please find within: lots of blending with comic canon, treating First Class as a straight up reboot, character juggling and not much consummation.
> 
> Also: I preserved the method in which they were posted on the KM because I chose what happened in each part specifically.

**i.**

 _Beast,_

Please don’t try to find us, we don’t have to fight. I’m asking someone else to post this letter for me because you really mustn’t come after us. ~~I just~~ I want to know if Charles is okay, he’s my oldest friend.

I know that things didn’t end well and I’m sorry that you couldn’t understand why I wanted to leave. Magneto’s ideas, his beliefs, they make so much more sense to me than Charles’. Why should we have to hide, Beast, when we are beautiful exactly the way we are?

Magneto’s plans are big and daring, he’s going to change the world, and I want to be a part of that. Charles could never understand. I thought you did. ~~I thought you might have~~ Magneto trusts that I can make decisions for myself, he believes in me. I wish Charles could have done that.

A letter sent to this address will find it’s way to me. Please, I want to know if Charles is okay. ~~It might calm Magn~~ Just because I’m not there doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry about him.

Your friend,  
Mystique

The letter is postmarked Rio and the return address is very obviously Brazilian. Hank turns the envelope over in his hands and notes that the handwriting on the address is not Raven’s; there’s more warmth in the way she writes, a messiness that is one of her ways of rebelling against Charles.

Sean had grinned at him when he gave him the letter, making sly comments about Hank having his very own girl from Ipanema. Hank hadn’t known the handwriting and now he knows why, Raven obviously doesn’t want Charles to know she’s writing to him.

He pulls a pen and paper out of his desk and gazes out into the grounds. He can see Charles and Alex, watching Sean spiral through the air overhead, laughing, he thinks, by the way their shoulders are moving.

How is Charles? Hank bends his head and writes, wondering if he should mention how many times Charles has assured them Erik will come back.

 **ii.**

 _Raven,_

 _I am also sorry. I should have been more aware of your changing beliefs. I understand, now, how much it must have hurt you when I ~~implied~~ said that your human form was beautiful. Your natural form is beautiful too and I’m sorry that I ever said otherwise._

 _I am honestly quite horrified by the thought of what my serum may have done to you. If it has accelerated my mutation so strongly I don’t like to think what it may have done to some with a molecular structure that is already in flux. I am glad you made the right decision, Raven, and I’m sorry I tried to pressure you._

 _Charles is here at the mansion, with Sean and Alex too (he sent Moira away, ~~I’m not sure what he did~~ I think he may have taken her memories of the mansion, to keep us safe). There is no easy way to tell you this so I shall just write it out as plainly as I can: the bullet that Erik deflected into Charles’ back caused a lot of damage to his spinal chord. It’s resulted in a paralysis of his legs. Charles can’t walk, Raven, he now uses a wheelchair._

 _It hasn’t changed him at all, though I have seen him become angry with Alex when Alex assumes he needs help. Alex knows better than to push Charles’ chair, now, and I am attempting to build him a motorised chair to make moving around the grounds simpler. Charles is still training us. I think he wants to find more people like us but he isn’t sure how to start._

 _Sean and Alex have regressed, I think. Alex teases me almost constantly and Sean’s jokes have become even worse than the already were. I do my best to rise above Alex’s words, I know that it is because he’s hurting too. Neither of them can understand why you left, why Erik left, and they’re taking it out on me. (Don’t worry, though, something about my advanced mutation has made it much easier for me to ignore them.)_

 _ ~~Charles speaks of Erik often~~ I think Charles misses both of you but he doesn’t talk about it very often. Sometimes I think he is certain you are both simply taking an extended vacation and will be home any moment._

 _Please keep writing to me, Raven, I promise I won’t try to find you if you keep writing. I just want to know that you’re safe – those other mutants seemed dangerous._

 _Your friend always,  
Hank McCoy_

Mystique traces her fingers over Beast’s signature and pictures him; sitting in his study (or would he be in his lab, rebuilt after the mess he’d made of it) and writing. She wonders if it’s difficult for him to hold a pen now or if his hands are just as dexterous as they were.

Magneto is brooding in a corner of the café, idly stirring his coffee over and over again without thinking (and without his hands). He broods most of the time, now, and though Mystique can’t deny that it suits him – it makes for an oppressive atmosphere. Mystique stays by him, though, while Emma and Angel make Riptide shop with them. This is the only place she feels comfortable.

With Emma not nearby Mystique can admit to herself what she’s been thinking: Magneto misses Charles. They had disagreed with each other a lot, she knows that, but she also remembers how they had pushed each other to be better. Charles had always smiled a lot, as long as she had known him, but when Magneto was around the smiles had increased and she hadn’t honestly known what to make of that.

She tries to imagine a Charles who cannot walk, who cannot stand, but it’s difficult. It doesn’t fit with her memory of him. She knows she should tell Magneto, that despite everything he would want to know, but she’s afraid of what it might do to him. She knows he blames himself and MacTaggart equally (and she also knows that she blames him, can’t stop herself from blaming him) and it would tear him up to know that he was responsible.

Maybe she’ll keep it to herself for now and keep writing to Beast. When there’s some better news she can share she will – and maybe it’ll raise some of the clouds that are hanging over Magneto’s head.


	2. Part Two

**iii.**

 _Beast,_

 _I can’t even imagine Charles in a wheelchair. All I have is an image of him being really impatient. Is he driving everyone mad? I can see that being something that would happen. I’m glad he’s okay, though. ~~I thought he might have~~ I thought something worse might have happened._

 _I know I should tell Magneto ~~he frets~~ I can tell that he still cares about Charles even though he refuses to talk about it. I’m afraid ~~he might do something stupid~~ of what might happen if I tell him. He might try to find Agent MacTaggart and there’s no way we’re ready to fight them. Even with Ms Frost._

 _I don’t like Emma very much, actually. I don’t think she has the same respect for people’s minds that Charles does. I know what it feels like when someone pokes about in your head and I can feel her at the edges all the time. She knows I don’t trust her and I think she’s going to try to use that against me some day._

 _I liked hearing about Banshee and Havok. I never really thought I’d miss them but I do. There’s not a lot of fun when you’re on the run. ~~It would be better with y~~_

 _Magneto is also talking about finding other mutants. Emma says she knows a few people through the Hellfire Club. (MacTaggart had no idea just how far these guys can reach, by the way.) I think he wants to find them before Charles does. Guess you’ve got a race on your hands._

 _I’ve put in a postcard from where we were three days ago. The sun is too hot down here and I have to remember to make sure my human form has tanned skin or I get strange looks. Emma always looks the same no matter what – I don’t know where she finds the time. Magneto has us almost constantly on the move._

 _ ~~We’re going somewhere Riptide~~ I don’t really know where we’re going anymore. Magneto just keeps moving ~~when he’s not brooding~~ because I think he’s afraid Charles is chasing him. I keep telling him Charles isn’t that sort of man but I don’t think he believes me. I think it’s because he can’t wear the helmet in public, people ask too many questions._

 _Take care, Beast, and take care of ~~my brother~~ Charles. I miss you all.  
Mystique_

The postmark is still Brazilian but Hank doesn’t recognise the city. He goes into Charles’ library and finds it in an atlas, trying to picture Raven with sun-darkened skin. He misses her too. He’s not at all ashamed to admit that the school could very much do with a female presence.

Charles has been on and off the telephone all day, attempting secure supplies for Hank to build a new version of Cerebro. Now that Hank knows Erik is also looking for mutants he’s going to move the project to the head of queue.

Dimly heard detonations tell him Alex is practicing with the new suit Hank built him when they returned from Cuba. Sean will probably be watching him – he likes setting Alex inventive challenges.

 _Hank, I need some specifications_ , Charles’ voice creeps into his head. It’s not something Hank thinks he’s ever going to grow used to. He’s sets the letter aside, propping the postcard up against his mug, and grabs his folded Cerebro blueprints.

 **iv.**

 _An extract from the diaries of Charles Xavier_

\- it frustrates me because I know Erik is a good man. I could see that from the first time I touched his mind. When Erik allowed me to access deeper memories; to see the happy and innocent boy he was so many years ago, it broke my heart to think of such innocence being shattered by a man like Shaw.

I’d always been aware, of course, from Erik’s memories, that Shaw was a cruel man but it wasn’t until I was able to briefly see inside his mind that I understood the full scope of the man’s sadistic nature. He pushed that innocent child Erik used to be until he became a weapon that eventually even he couldn’t control. It’s horrifying to think of.

What truly pains me, however, is that I can see echoes of this in Erik. Or, at least, I could when Erik allowed me in. I didn’t recognise it as such until I heard Shaw’s thoughts, still marvelling at his creation even as Erik was murdering him, but the correlations are there.

How I wish I knew where Erik is. I am certain that if I had more time I could temper these impulses and bring the man I know Erik to truly be out into the light. ~~The thought of never seeing him again~~ I hope for the world’s sake that Raven has enough light inside of her to be a good influence upon him.

I continue my efforts towards training Alex and Sean -

 **v.**

 _Extract from a CIA wiretap [originally monitoring an unrelated case]_

Xavier: Hello? Is there anyone there?

Lehnsherr: Are you looking for me, Charles?

Xavier: Erik! I –

Lehnsherr: Mystique told me it was unlikely but I don’t believe her.

Xavier: Is he alright, Erik? Is she well? I have done so poorly by her –

Lehnsherr: She enjoys the sun, Charles, you should have taken her to the seaside more often.

Xavier: I’m not – I won’t look for you, Erik. You know where I am, you know you are always welcome here, my friend.

Lehnsherr: Friend. You use that word so easily, Charles, despite everything I have done.

Xavier: You will always be my friend. Nothing you say or do will change that.

Lehnsherr: How can you be so certain?

Xavier: Because I know you. Erik – this isn’t the way –

Lehnsherr: Goodbye, Charles. Say hello to the children for me.

Xavier: Erik, please…

[dial tone]

Xavier: Come back.


	3. Part Three

**vi.**

 _Hi Raven!_

 _This is Sean. Don’t be too hacked off at Hank – I don’t think he meant to leave your letter lying around. He also probably didn’t expect me to be poking around in his lab. I wouldn’t normally but I was desperate for some chips and Hank’s started hording food now that he’s all blue and furry. His appetite has gotten HUGE._

 _I told Alex that you were okay and he started smiling again. He’s been way serious since Darwin and it got worse when ~~Erik and Charles split up~~ you guys left. It doesn’t help, I guess, that he’s still afraid of himself. I guess he saw the stuff that Erik did and is afraid that he could do something like that one day._

 _Your brother pretty much is driving everyone crazy around here. He keeps saying we have to eat better and train more and now he’s determined to start teaching us, like, properly. I was really bad at school, Raven, and now Charles is set on fixing that. Sometimes it’s totally uncool having a telepath around._

 _~~All I’m saying is things were a lot easier when he was obsessing over Erik~~ _

_Alex wants to write something so I’ll say bye. Take care of yourself, Raven, you were cool._

 _Raven,_

 _Don’t listen to what Sean says – I’m not afraid of anything. I’m just worried about my kid brother. I told you about him, remember? I want to write to my family but Charles says I should wait until I’m better with my powers and my other “issues” – seriously, why did he become a professor of genetics? He acts like a shrink most of the time._

 _I just wanted to tell you that Hank’s getting a lot better. He was really bummed out by everything that happened with you but it’s made him better now. He’s not hiding anymore. It’s kinda cool, actually, when we go for runs around the grounds he jumps up into trees and does all these crazy tricks. It’s totally cool._

 _Sean says I’ve got to stop now because Charles has given him the rest of the mail to go and post. So be safe, Raven, and write to us as well – looks like you’re going to cool places._

 _Alex_

Mystique can’t stop herself from laughing as she reads the letter whilst propped up on her bed. It’s nice to be in a proper hotel, with running water and soft beds. Emma’s rolling in it and has finally managed to convince Magneto that they can run in style. Mystique’s fairly certain Emma’s never slept rough in her life – not when she can convince people to let her in with nothing more than a moment’s concentration.

It horrifies Mystique a little – the complete lack of respect Emma has for anyone’s privacy and she’s more than glad that Charles had spent so much time teaching her tricks for keeping telepaths out of her head. She doesn’t want Emma to know that she’s in contact with the mansion.

The hotel seems to have agreed with Magneto as well. The brooding, at least, is at a minimum and normally only comes on when Emma casually mentions Charles. Mystique has a feeling that Emma is testing Magneto’s responses, trying to figure out what Mystique already knows.

She knew the moment she saw them together, saw the way Charles looked at Magneto. He wasn’t simply enraptured with Magneto’s power and ability – it was everything about him. Mystique had seen the way Charles looked at the few women he’d loved over the years – this had been a more fervent version of that. Charles had always struggled with his sexuality the way Mystique struggled with her physical identity – a complete product of his upbringing. Oxford had mitigated some of that, impossible not to when Charles was surrounded by men raised in the finest British public schools – Mystique had hoped Magneto would be able to push him a little further, into accepting that he liked men as much as he liked women.

A lot of hopes had been dashed on that Cuban beach.

 **vii.**

 _An unsent letter found amongst Erik Lensherr’s belongings_

 ~~Dear Charles~~ ~~My dear friend~~ ~~Freund~~ ~~Ami~~

Charles

 ~~I have been trying for many days to find the words I need to explain myself~~ I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you. I wouldn’t, I believe, ~~you know me too well~~ ~~because you stole into my~~ because you wouldn’t even ask me to. I think I know you that well.

 ~~You forgive too easily~~ I wouldn’t be surprised if you never forgave me, but even less so if you did. ~~Why did you~~ I could always feel your trust, your faith in me ~~how could you believe in me after what you had seen~~ I wonder if it hurts you that you were wrong.

You must have always known that I shared beliefs with Shaw ~~how could I not, he made me~~ but then, maybe you weren’t lying when you said you would never enter my mind without permission again. Your honesty is ~~one of the things I l~~ something I will always admire, even though I know it will surely be your downfall.

There is no place for honest men in war. It is a war, Charles, even though you refuse to see it. Everything I do now – I do to prove this to you. ~~If only you would join me we could~~ I don’t want to rule the world, as Shaw did, I just want to make it safe ~~for us~~ for our people.

 ~~I never wanted to leave you~~ ~~I would have done anything for~~ ~~I should have been more aware, I never meant to hurt you~~

If I had said the words would you have come with me? ~~Here they are~~

 _The letter is torn and incomplete, signs of frustration evident_

 **viii.**

 _Raven,_

 _I have news! I told you that we were intending to rebuild Cerebro ~~we completed~~ and that’s going well. But that isn’t the news – when we were testing the connections Charles had a sudden and intense burst of what he calls psychic noise. He found the thoughts of another mutant and he recognised them._

 _Darwin is alive, Raven! I’m so excited I’m using exclamation marks in the same way Sean does but I simply don’t care. Darwin’s alive. It’s incredible. Alex went with Charles to find him, the signal came from Virginia, and Sean’s been flying around outside for the entire time they’ve been gone. ~~No birds live near the mansion now~~_

 _Do you know what this means? It means that Darwin’s mutation is even more powerful than we could have imagined. You remember that Charles and Erik approached that other mutant, ~~the one that told them to fuck off~~ the one Charles suspected may have had a healing factor, well this blows that right out of the water. Something like this means Darwin could live forever, can you imagine that? ~~Can you imagine what we could do for humanity by studying him~~_

 _Sean’s offered to post this for me so I will finish here. I just thought you should know._

 _Hank_

“How long have you been in contact with Beast?” Magneto asks, gripping the sheet of paper in his hand.

“I – not very long,” Mystique says, her hair nervously flickering between blonde and red. Magneto’s eyes fix on her hair and she makes a conscious effort to control herself.

“Why would you endanger us like this?” Magneto asks, eyes sliding back to hers. “If they complete Cerebro they could use these letters to find us.”

“I don’t think Ha – Beast has told Charles,” Mystique says, shaking her head. “And, not to be rude, but my brother isn’t like you, Magneto, he doesn’t break into people’s rooms to threaten them until they give up their secrets.”

“No – he can simply steal into their minds –”

“Don’t – don’t start that again, please. It’s not like that,” Mystique interrupts. “He asks permission. Unlike some people I can think of.”

“I can hear that, darling,” Emma’s voice comes from outside of Mystique’s door. Magneto had banished her there when Mystique revealed the letter. “You don’t think very flattering thoughts.”

 _Witch_ , Mystique throws out. Emma laughs.

“We will talk about this further in the morning,” Magneto says, gathering up the other letters.

“Are you – going to read them all?” Mystique asks as Magneto turns toward the door. He pauses and nods. “Magneto - _Erik_ \- there’s something you have to know first. About Charles.”

She isn’t prepared for the way Magneto looks at her. It only hardens her resolve to find a way to bring them back together.

 **ix.**

 _A postcard found on Charles Xavier’s desk, worn as if well-handled_

I’m sorry.


	4. Part Four

**x.**

 _Banshee, Havok,_

 _It was really good to hear from you guys – I’ll tell Beast not to be too mad at you. Your letter made me laugh which is something we don’t really do a lot of here. ~~I wish I could tell you where~~ I can’t tell you where we are but it’s hot in a way I’ve never really experience before. It’s making Magneto even more irritable than normal. ~~Emma keeps pretty much teasing him about Charles~~ It’s not fun._

 _That teleporter, Azazel, he’s pretty good for moving around. He’s also surprisingly funny – you guys would probably get along with him. Riptide doesn’t really talk a lot ~~not like you, Banshee~~ and sometimes I forget that he talks at all. Angel teases him about it and he doesn’t really react. I guess he’s pretty cool, really._

 _ ~~She’s pretty angry at~~ Her wings are healing, Havok, but she was hurt bad. I don’t think she’ll be very friendly the next time you meet. ~~If we ever come back to America.~~_

 _By the way, Havok – have you thought of telling Charles what you told me? That you’re pretty sure Scott’s a mutant too? He might be more likely to do something about it if he knows that. ~~Just don’t let him manipulate~~_

 _Both of you don’t worry about Charles trying teach you – he did become a professor for a reason. ~~Don’t ever tell him I~~ I’ll say this for him – he’s always been pretty good at teaching and he’s knows a lot of stuff. Give him a chance._

 _Mystique_

Alex reads the letter over Sean’s shoulder, feeling a stab of worry at seeing Scott’s name. He hasn’t really said anything to Sean or Hank about it – but he’s worried about a lot of the stuff he told Raven before she left. If Erik ever realises that being a mutant runs in his family… He tries to shut that feeling down before it gets too big, he can’t deal with Charles looking at him all sorry for him all the time, but God help the world if Erik finds out about Gabriel

Even Alex is afraid of Gabriel. And Gabriel would like Erik.

“She’s probably still having way more fun than us,” Sean says, dropping the letter onto the table. He looks over his shoulder at Alex and frowns. “Hey, Alex, are you with me?”

“Uh – yeah, sorry,” Alex shakes head and pushes his memories of his older brother further back into his head. “More fun. Probably.”

“You are even less with it than usual, man,” Sean shakes his head slowly. “Maybe you should go and see Darwin – that normally brings you back to the living.”

“Yeah, I think I will,” Alex says absently, pushing away from the couch. “Later.”

“Yeah, later,” Sean says behind him.

Alex has been spending a lot of time with Darwin since he and Charles brought him back. Hank’s pretty sure it’s only a matter of time before Darwin comes back to himself but he still encourages everyone to sit with him as much as possible.

No-one’s in the makeshift infirmary Hank’s building when Alex gets there and the screen is pulled around Darwin’s bed. Darwin had reformed himself into some kind of ‘impenetrable material’, Hank had said, but all Alex could think was that Darwin made a good-looking statue. Not that he was thinking about him like that.

“You know,” Alex says when he sits down, touching a hand briefly to Darwin’s cold skin. “I wasn’t really like you guys, the ones who thought they were the only mutants, I always knew I wasn’t alone.”

Darwin says nothing back, of course, and sometimes it’s hard to remember what Charles told him; that Darwin is inside that shell, somewhere, hurting. Alex blames himself for not realising, for not thinking that Darwin would survive.

“It wasn’t a good thing for me,” Alex continues, resting his chin on his hand. “My brother, Gabriel, who I never told you guys about – he’s…scary. He’s at least as powerful as Charles or Erik and I just – I hope he never finds us. He’s bad news.”

Alex hasn’t told Charles about Gabriel. He’s also almost certain that Charles hasn’t looked inside his head and found him. He intends to keep it that way.

 **xi.**

 _Witness statement about a runaway teenager from the father._

About a week ago a man called Charles Xavier came to our house and offered a place at his new school to my daughter. He called it a school for gifted students. When I asked what he knew about Alison’s schooling he told me that she was a very admirable student with an obvious talent. I was pleased to hear this but Alison wasn’t.

Xavier asked if he could have some time alone with Alison so I left them together in the room. I left the door open a bit in case Alison was troubled by this man. They had a conversation in quiet tones that I couldn’t hear. There was a flash of light and suddenly Alison was shouting at Xavier to leave.

When I ran back into the room Alison was surrounded by this strange shapes of light, like the images left on in your eyes when you press your hands against them, and she was still shouting. Xavier left without too much fuss though he did exhort me to talk to Alison about what had happened.

Alison didn’t want to talk about it but she did say that Xavier was one of those mutants the newspapers have been talking about. I told her I was sorry that I let one of those disgusting creatures into our house. Alison started to cry and took herself to bed without any supper.

When I tried checking on her in the morning she was gone.

Xavier had dark hair and blues. He spoke with an English accent and was in a wheelchair. He was dressed in a grey suit.

Signed  
Carter Blaire

 **xii.**

 _Beast,_

 _I was so happy to hear about Darwin that Emma could hear it. I’m really sorry but now Magneto knows that I’m writing to you. He didn’t say anything about stopping me and then he took the letters away. I’m writing this now because I don’t know what he’s going to say about it in the morning._

 _ ~~You should’ve seen his face when~~ I told him about Charles. I can’t be certain because I hadn’t really noticed before but the end of the bed frame in my room here was bent completely out of shape by the time I finished. ~~He’s really so obvious about~~ Emma’s been asking a lot of questions about Charles and for a moment after I told Magneto I really thought he was going to hurt her._

 _I don’t think these people Emma wants us to meet are going to be good for Magneto. ~~Don’t get me wrong~~ I believe in what Magneto wants and you were there on the beach, you saw what the humans were going to do to us, but I don’t think that’s what Emma and the others want. ~~She likes goading Magneto too much~~ ~~Half of the reason I’m here is because~~ I’m still hoping that Charles will realise that Magneto is right. It would be better if they ~~were together~~ could work together. We’re not the enemies, Beast._

 _If you can, please get Charles to at least think about what Magneto’s said. We’ve seen the America papers and he doesn’t like what he’s seeing. You must be able to see it too, Beast. I’m really scared for you guys. It feels like something bad is coming._

 _Be safe, Mystique_

Hank tucks the letter into his pocket as he pads through the mansion toward Charles’ study. He has a feeling that Mystique was trying to warn him that Erik is going to do something dangerous and, even though Hank feels guilty about hiding the letters, he knows he has to warn him.

Charles’ is study is empty, the radio playing quietly to itself in one corner, and Hank should’ve remembered that Charles is with Alison today, probably training her whilst subtly consoling her over her father’s actions.

Hank remembers Alison showing up in the middle of the night, her eyes tear-stained, with a story of being driven out of her home when her father realised she must be a mutant. Charles had welcomed her in and offered to smooth things over with her father, which had made Hank shiver (sometimes Charles has more in common with Erik’s more ruthless methods than he realises), but Alison had refused. _Let him always know it was his fault._

Hank turns back toward the door with a sigh, wondering where Charles would take Alison to train, when something catches his eye. There’s a colourful array of postcards spread around the room, many of them on the desk, and Hank breathes a sigh of relief. Obviously Raven has been sending Charles cards in an effort to ease his worry – hopefully that means Charles won’t be angry with him about hiding her letters.

Curiosity makes Hank pick up the one nearest; it shows a typically bright South American scene (Raven thinks she’s hiding where she is but she’s honestly not trying very hard, which is enough to tell Hank that she wants to come home more than she will admit) but the words on the back are not typical at all.

The words _I’m sorry_ in Erik’s neat script, a hand that had clearly been taught to write in a different language entirely, unmistakable to someone with Hank’s eyes. Hank nearly drops the postcard in surprise. Then he registers the radio.

 _“- in New York today. The attackers, believed to be mutants, repelled an assault by twenty-five seasoned FBI agents with one-fifth of their number. The Mayor has condemn the action – calling for the New York senate to begin legislation over the matter –”_

It’s too late.

 **xiii.**

 _Scrap of a newspaper article found amongst Charles Xavier’s belongings_

A suspected act of mutant aggression was carried out in New York today during a FBI raid on a suspected Communist faction, The Hellfire Club.

At six o’clock this morning the FBI entered the premises of The Hellfire Club, 840 Fifth Avenue, after several months of observation. It was believed to be the source of seditious pamphlets being circulated throughout Manhattan after the Cuban Missile Crisis was ended.

Instead of finding Communist Party members the FBI agents were attacked by a group of super-powered individuals, all of whom are believed to be part of the newly revealed mutant race. Witnesses reported a man in a helmet that broke the FBI agents’ guns in half and a woman made of diamonds who could throw men across the street.

There were further reports of a man with red skin who could appear in one place and then another within seconds and a man who appeared to be able to create tornados with his hands. Reports of the incident become muddled after this point, listing the arrivals of aliens and dinosaurs amongst the combatants. Is this yet another mutant power to fear? When these illusions disappeared the entire Hellfire Club building had been evacuated and the mutants had vanished.

The Mayor’s office issued a statement condemning the behaviour of these people, citing the destruction the battle had caused as reason enough to consider making mutantism illegal in the city.

The FBI -

 _Torn from the New York Times with the following written across the top:_

 _Do you see they way they see us, Charles? Even when we defend ourselves without bloodshed they condemn us._


	5. Part Five

**xiv.**

 _Raven,_

 _I didn’t see any reference to someone with your powers in the reports. ~~God, I hope you’re safe~~ I think that’s the only thing stopping Charles from hunting you all down. Well, not you - _Erik_. It’s quite frightening when your brother goes into a rage, isn’t it? I honestly didn’t think he was even capable of anger. We had headaches for days._

I think I liked the rage better, though, in comparison to the sadness that’s permeated the mansion since. I’m almost certain Charles had greater control of his abilities before ~~Erik~~ you left. Or perhaps he was just happier. I don’t know. Sean is the only person who seems unaffected. Alex is brooding ~~worse than Erik~~ almost constantly and I find him in the infirmary, asleep in the chair by Darwin’s bed, most mornings. ~~Ali is~~

I think Erik’s been in contact with Charles. I thought it was you at first but the handwriting is Erik’s. Postcards, you see, all over Charles’ study – with the same two words over and over again. I know we joked about ~~how they were in love~~ it at the time but I think it was real, Raven, and with the way things are I’m worried. ~~Their love could tear the world apart~~

We have to do something about it, Raven, because I can’t stand the thought of a world where we have to fight each other. ~~I lov-~~ That’s what we’re heading for, I know you can see it as well as I can, because neither of them will compromise and they’ll go on hurting each other ~~out of love~~ until one or both of them is dead.

Hank

Mystique hides the letter as soon as she finishes it, completely unwilling to answer any questions Magneto would have if he read it. She’s a little surprised that Beast would put it down in words, the topic she and the others had only ever talked about when Magneto and Charles weren’t near. It probably means that things in the mansion are even worse that Beast has written.

They’re in Italy, now, and the letter has taken some time to reach them, forwarded through several addresses. Erik assured them, eyes dark, that the owner of the Villa they’d taken over wouldn’t be bothering them. There’d been German books in the library before Erik destroyed it in a fit of the rage she hadn’t seen since before the beach. She guesses it has something to do with New York.

Beast ( _he loves me? is that what he was going to write?_ ) is right, she wasn’t at the Hellfire Club with Magneto and the others. She was with Angel, both told that they were too young for the fight, and it had stung, the way that Magneto’s eyes slid past her as he said it. She had come with him because she believed he would treat her with more intelligence than Charles but at the first sign of real danger he had pushed her away.

Admittedly, as Beast had said, it’s probably the right decision. She’s seen Charles in a fury twice in the time she’s known him; the first when Cain’s bullying finally went too far and Charles terrified the other boy into never speaking to him again and the second when his mother died and his step-father brought another woman to the funeral. She doesn’t envy the others quite so much as usual.

She agrees that something must be done about Charles and Magneto. The Hellfire Club in New York had only been the start. Emma had known, of course, otherwise the FBI would’ve been raiding empty premises. It was Magneto’s first statement of intent and, although she agrees with him that they must defend themselves, she hadn’t imagined it would be through a pre-emptive strike disguised as something else.

What Mystique thinks probably only she and Emma, with her disregard for boundaries, know is that it wasn’t for the humans. It was for Charles. Magneto won’t believe her that this isn’t the way to convince Charles and the problem is she doesn’t know what _can_ be done to convince him.

So it’s probably a good thing that Beast’s on the same page. Maybe between them (her knowledge of Charles and Beast’s knowledge of pretty much everything else) they can fix this before it’s too late.

 **xv.**

 _An extract from the diaries of Charles Xavier._

I believe that Alison is settling in very well though I am still not all certain that this was the best way for things to happen. I don’t for a minute disbelieve her story, Angel had a similar story when Erik pressed her as to why she was working as she was, but I feel that this mustn’t become a trend for any further students we amass here.

Since that first attempt Cerebro has been increasingly difficult to operate. Hank has done the best he can with equipment not meant for the purpose it is being put to but I’m not sure if it will be of much use. ~~I wish Erik~~ We will try again tomorrow, I have a thought towards looking for Alex’s younger brother – if he is a mutant then he will be fast approaching the age at which abilities manifest and I’m sure Alex would like to be there if so. There has been no reply to the letter Alex sent two weeks ago and I know that it’s worrying him.

Speaking of letters: I am almost certain now that it was Hank who originally began corresponding with Raven, though I’m also sure that all three young men are writing to her, we have far too much post for a supposedly under the radar school for mutants. It is the only way I think Erik could have learnt about my paralysis, I have not felt the presence of the telepath nearby, and I believe that is why I have received so many precisely worded apologies in the past few months.

The weather is turning colder here and it seems that Erik is doing his best to escape that if the latest card, a bright view of Lake Como, is anything to judge by. I wish I could tell him that he doesn’t need to apologise ~~that the only apology I need is for him to come home~~ but I find myself unwilling to look for him, for Raven. At least the continued letters and postcards soothe my worries.

I’m not sure I could have forgiven Erik if he’d taken Raven into that battle in New York. I know now that I have made a very poor show of understanding the woman I’ve come to think of as my sister over time, projecting my own issues with appearance onto her and ~~trapping~~ making her feel wrong in her own skin. I was a fool and I’m glad that she is with Erik, truly, because I know he always saw her as her own self and not what I was trying to make her into. But if he allows harm to come to her I will hunt him to the very ends of the earth.

 **xvi.**

 _Beast,_

 _Although I’m happy that you’ve come around to my way of thinking about Magneto and Charles I think it’s probably better if you don’t write it down in future. I only just managed to keep your letter away from him and I really don’t think he wants to know that we know. It’s hard enough being a mutant, right now, let alone a mutant that’s in love with his male friend._

 _~~Speaking of love~~ _

_We might not have to make a plan after all. Magneto came down to breakfast the other day with a lightness about him I haven’t seen in months. He has an idea that I think he thinks will get Charles on his side. Only, I don’t think it actually will, knowing Charles, but I didn’t say anything because, if nothing else, at least it’ll get them in the same place. Hopefully that will be enough._

 _He wants to find a healer. Not like that guy who told them to ~~fuck off~~ get lost. Someone who can actually heal other people. There’s got to be someone like that, right? I mean – Azazel can teleport and Havok does that thing and you said Darwin probably can’t die – why not someone who can heal people?_

 _I – I don’t know how he’s going to do it without a Cerebro. ~~Just because Emma knows where the plans are~~ ~~I don’t care if Mastermind says he can~~ But he’s got his heart set on it and, well, you saw what that did for Shaw._

 _I guess there’s some hope, at least, because the Hellfire Club people, Beast, they don’t really share Magneto’s ideals and I’m beginning to think everyone is using everyone else. That never seemed to be what Magneto wanted. ~~Sometimes I think he was using Charles~~ I’ll let you know what happens._

 _ ~~Lov~~  
Mystique_

Hank already knows that offering Charles a healer won’t help. Alex made the mistake of suggesting it when they made their first trial run with the new Cerebro. He’d refused to speak to anyone for a week afterwards.

(He's not thinking about the crossed-out possibly endearments because it makes his heart flip in his chest. Maybe he's starting to fix what he's broken.)

He’s wondering idly who Mastermind is once he discerns the crossed-out word when Alex thunders into his lab, chest heaving. Hank stands at once, he can smell the infirmary on Alex and something else, something as familiar as an echo.

“Darwin,” Alex says, his eyes wild, and he doesn’t need to say anything more.

Hank is faster than Alex and he slides into the infirmary ahead of him. Charles is already there, one hand on Darwin’s arm, his skin _skin_ again. Alex makes an indistinct noise and Hank pretends not to hear it.

“Hush, there now,” Charles says quietly. “You’re back with us, Armando, you’re safe.”

Hank and Alex join Charles by the bed, the light footsteps of Sean coming up behind them as they watch Darwin drawing in great lungfuls of air. Hank can smell Ali in the doorway, keeping herself out of the way, and it’s still something he can’t get used to, his senses being so acute.

He touches two fingers to Darwin’s wrist and reads a beating pulse that he can already hear echoing in Darwin’s chest and Darwin’s wide eyes fix on his.

“Hank?” he says, his first words in months. Hank ducks his head. Darwin cracks a smile. “Looking good, man.”

Sean laughs, loud enough to cover up the almost sob that comes out of Alex’s mouth, and Charles smiles.

“Welcome back,” Hank says, stepping away so that Alex can move closer. Darwin’s eyes soften when he sees Alex and Hank pretends he doesn’t see it. He meets Charles' eyes and sees that Charles is pretending he doesn’t see it either. For Alex's sake.

There’s a happiness in the air that is something close to those heady days when they were all in the mansion, _school_ , together. Hank hopes this is only the beginning.


	6. Part Six

**xvii.**

 _Raven,_

 _Fantastic news! Darwin is back with us, alive and for all intents and purposes well. ~~You should have seen Alex’s face~~ I saw Charles smile for the first time since we heard about New York._

 _What you said about Cerebro – you don’t think that Erik would send Miss Frost here, do you? That would be a very bad idea. ~~Just because we’re leaving for an extended time soon~~ Charles had me design a security system – it’s nothing like as sophisticated as I what could produce with the resources of the CIA behind me but it’s almost unbreakable. ~~The key is in the name~~_

 _If Erik does manage to find a healer and present him or her to Charles – I think I agree with you. In the short time I’ve known him I’ve never seen him so determined. Getting Alex to help him design school plans, teaching Sean history, helping Darwin piece himself back together, ~~helping Ali~~ – helping me with Cerebro. He keeps saying that he is the ‘same Charles, simply lower’._

 _We don’t know what to say to that either._

 _My point is – I believe that Charles will refuse Erik’s help. As you say, though, it will at least put them in the same place. I don’t for a moment think that one meeting will even come close to fixing this – but when they see each other it may remind them of how much they ~~love~~ need each other._

 _It would be a first step._

 _Yours ~~always~~ , Hank._

The mansion is dark when Azazel teleports them into the grounds, just like Hank had suggested it would be. Emma tilts her head for a moment and Mystique feels the familiar touch of someone else’s mind. After a moment Emma nods and Mystique can’t hide her smile, of course Hank would use the knowledge that Magneto was reading his letters to their advantage.

“Wait here,” Mystique says to Azazel. “The smell you take with you wherever you go is much too distinctive.”

Azazel smiles, baring his teeth, and leans against a tree, his tail curling about him.

“Whatever you say, little leader,” he says carelessly. Mystique feels her cheeks heat.

“Come on,” she mutters to Emma, leading to way toward the mansion. Magneto had entrusted her with the mission because she had the experience for it, she reminds herself.

“The famed Xavier estate,” Emma says, picking her way over the grass. She’s thankfully wearing practical clothes for once, though she still insists on white (“My White Queen,” Erik had said mockingly in one of his darker moods). “It’s almost more British than I thought it would be.”

Mystique feels an instinctive urge to defend what she thinks of as her family home. She squashes it as much as she can, she’s supposed to be beyond that now, but the amused noise Emma makes suggests she doesn’t quite manage it.

“I’m curious,” Emma says as the near the west wing. “Just how did dear Charles manage to hide you from his family for so long?”

“He told them not to see me,” Mystique answers, feeling a pang of guilt for sharing it. “Then they didn’t. For ten years.”

“It pains me to say this,” Emma says as they reach the building, “but your pseudo-brother may be the most powerful mutant I’ve encountered.”

Mystique shivers; thinking of Mastermind, of the other mutants Emma has mentioned, people who can do things she hadn’t even imagined. It scares her sometimes. She remembers Charles’ favourite phrasing, telling people that they’re not alone anymore, and sometimes she wishes that they’d never agreed to the CIA’s request. She’s rather be alone again than have to enjoy another minute of Mastermind’s presence.

There’s a new panel set into the stone beside the large double doors that open into the second parlour. Mystique presses it and it slides away, revealing an electric keypad. This is when Mystique finds out if she understands Hank as well as she thinks she does.

 _72836_. The light beside the keypad goes from red to green and Mystique smiles.

“Let’s go,” she says, opening one of the doors. Hank hasn’t given her any hints about the new Cerebro’s location but she has a few ideas of her own.

They find it in the second place Mystique tries, a disused wine cellar now covered in panels of transmitters, and she’s never been so thankful for something in her life. One more sideways comment from Emma about the Xavier choice of décor and Charles and the others would’ve arrived home to a gift-wrapped second telepath.

Mystique flicks a series of switches on, trying to remember what she can of Hank’s tutorial’s when they were at the CIA facility, and there’s a distant ominous grinding sound from outside. Emma’s eyes go blank for a moment, the way they do when she’s looking through someone else’s eyes.

“Apparently Charles has buried a large radio transmitter in his yard,” Emma says when she returns to herself. “Someone should have told him that size isn’t always the important thing.”

“I think it is here, though,” Mystique says. “You never say the old Cerebro. The whole thing was a transmitter.”

“Very well, Miss Expert,” Emma says, staring down at Mystique. “What do I do next then.”

“Uh, you put on the hat,” Mystique gestures to it. She thinks this one may have even more wires protruding from it than the original version. “I turn it on. You try and focus on what you’re looking for and, um, if you find it the machine prints out co-ordinates.”

“Well then,” Emma says, lifting the hat. A slight tremor through her hands is the only sign of her nerves. “I’ll try anything once.”

 **xviii.**

 _A Christmas card showing a brother and sister hanging stockings. The girl has been painted blue._

My dear Raven (or is it Mystique, now?)

I offer you my heartfelt apologies for being so completely unable to understand your worries.

I only ever wanted you to be happy but I was so convinced of my own ideal of happiness that I didn’t allow myself to see how unhappy you were.

You should know that I always thought you beautiful, no matter whose face you were wearing, blue skin or not. I should never have made you think otherwise.

I miss you.

I’m glad you’re writing to Hank, I think it must be very lonely for him – and maybe for you too.

Know that there’s always place here for ~~both of~~ you – even if you simply wish to visit. We may call a truce of sorts. I should like to see the woman you will become. ~~This can still be a home~~

 ~~Please give my best wishes to~~ ~~Tell Erik I~~

Merry Christmas, sister, I hope wherever this finds you, you are well.

With Love, Charles.

 **xix.**

 _REPORT. McTaggert, M. Foley observation detail. Extract._

00:00 – No activity.

00:36 – Suspicious noise at rear of Foley residence, investigated

00:40 – witnessed suspect M and suspect A attempting to gain entrance to Foley residence, did not engage, called for back up

00:47 – awaited back-up

00:50 – radioed for back-up again

00:55 – assumed back-up not arriving, entered house

01:00 – confronted suspect M as he appeared to be abducting Foley

01:15 – awareness of being in car with no knowledge of previous 15 mins. likely caused by suspect F

01:20 – returned to house, Foley, J abducted, no sign of struggle, no sign of mutant suspects

01:40 – informed by Trask that back-up was compromised by suspect M2

 _Legend: M – Magneto, A – Azazel, F – Emma Frost, M2 – Mystique_

 **xx.**

 _A Christmas card found amongst the effects of Charles Francis Xavier. The scene is atypical, a portrayal of forgiveness more closely associated with Easter._

Curiouser and curiouser. 00:00, 27.06.  
E.

 **xxi.**

Charles secured the blanket tighter about his legs, aware of the cold though unable to feel it. He laid his hands in his lap, resting his elbows against the arms of the chair, and tried to ignore the burning of newly used muscles. He was determined to make his own way, under his own power, but Hank’s concept of an efficient motorised chair was seeming more and more appealing in the winter snow.

Alice loomed over him, her friends gathered around her, recent snowfall dusted over their features. It changed them, almost made them sinister, and somehow it seemed fitting that Erik would ask him to meet here, beside the girl whose journey opened the world before her.

Hank was waiting in the car, his confused emotions washing against Charles’ mind even at a distance, accompanied by a curious Alison whose desperate need to leave the house had been grating on Charles for several weeks. He touched them both briefly; Hank to tell him he was safely arrived, Alison to admonish her not to ask Hank too many questions. As he slipped away he caught the tail end of Hank worrying about leaving Ororo in the hands of Alex and Sean whilst Darwin still recovered. He smiled.

The smile was stolen away from him a moment later as new presences arrived nearby, the egg smell of sulphur filling Charles’ nose. The precise dark steel of Azazel and a mixture of fear and curiosity from an unfamiliar young man. It was the void between them that stole Charles’ smile.

 _Erik_.

Charles gripped the arms of the chair. He was wrong. He wasn’t strong enough for this; to see Erik again, to try arguing away his rhetoric, to see him and not feel him. The urge to flee was so great that he began turning the chair without thinking, prepared to fight the snow again rather than meet Erik’s eyes.

Footsteps on the edge of hearing arrested Charles’ progress and, as if in slow motion, Charles turned his head to see them emerge into the snow reflected moonlight. Azazel’s tail curled in the air, like a scorpion’s sting, and the young man ( _boy, really_ ), younger than Sean or Alison, with golden skin and yes, there between them, wearing the helmet that had severed them so fully, Erik.

While his heart stopped in his chest Charles was idly pleased that Erik wasn’t wearing the cape that had been reported so widely. In fact, he was dressed no different to last time Charles had seen him, prior Hank’s uniforms, a thick turtleneck and dark leather jacket. He wore the helmet very well, Charles realised, he hadn’t thought anyone could make such a fashion appropriate in this modern era.

But then – hadn’t Erik always questioned Charles’ assumptions simply by existing?

Erik’s eyes swept him briefly from head to toe before focusing on his eyes. By necessity Erik had always maintained an ability to control his emotions but here something leaked at the corners, a rush of feeling Charles should have been able to read as easily as drawing breath. In the heat of the moment on the beach Charles hadn’t had enough time to register how truly awful the helmet was, wrapped up in a world of _wrong_ and desperate pleading, but this was unbearable. A literal gap where his friend would be.

The universe clearly enjoyed its little metaphors.

“Charles,” Erik said, eyes fixed tight on Charles’.

“Erik,” Charles countered, watching the flicker of annoyance on Erik’s face.

“You’re alone?” Erik asked, eyes moving to wheel tracks Charles had made through the snow.

“Hank drove me,” Charles said, waiving a hand through the air. “I find I haven’t the enthusiasm for driving that I once had.”

Erik’s eyes narrowed, his posture tensing, and still didn’t look at the chair. _Unable to, or unwilling_ , Charles wondered.

“You have nothing to fear from him,” Charles continued. “We are not enemies, certainly not at this time of night.”

“You believe him?” Azazel asked quietly. In the quiet winter night Azazel’s mind felt foreign in a way Charles couldn’t place – there was a darker story there than anyone knew.

“Charles is an honest man,” Erik said and Charles felt warm at the touch of begrudging pride in his voice.

“It is the honest men who are the greatest liars,” Azazel said, his tail lashing back and forth like a cat’s.

“You have my word,” Charles said, meeting Erik’s eyes. “A moment of truce.”

If Erik observed the paltry pun he didn’t acknowledge it, holding Charles’ eyes for a moment before turning to Azazel.

“Wait where we agreed,” he said. Azazel nodded and disappeared, sulphuric scent filling the air.

“You don’t mind if I leave this on, do you Charles?” Erik asked, tapping a finger against the helmet.

“You’ve never had a need to keep secrets from me, my friend,” Charles said. Erik flinched slightly.

“All the same,” Erik said, gaze drifting over Charles’ shoulder. “I’ll leave it on.”

“As you wish,” Charles said, turning his eyes to the boy beside Erik. “And who is your companion?”

“Josh Foley, uh, sir,” the golden boy said. Charles received impressions from the name; a high school girlfriend, two parents with twisted faces, a room with bars, a house that is a prison. Charles took a breath against the sadness.

“Are you here willingly?” Charles asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

“Charles,” Erik said, his voice slipping into a warning rumble.

“You owe me this at least, Erik, after New York,” Charles returned.

“They attacked us,” Erik said, eyes dark.

“That particular Hellfire Club property had been empty for two months,” Charles said, anger surfacing inside him. “You goaded them.”

“And what matter that?” Erik said, tightly controlled anger of his own in his voice. “They attacked us as soon as they suspected our presence.”

“What matter indeed, who provoked the attack,” Charles said, words biting, “when one is trying to start a war?”

“I am not Shaw,” Erik said and beside him Alice’s statue began to twist. “This war began on a beach in Cuba. It took your legs, Charles, how can you not –”

“Enough,” Charles spoke louder than he intended, the command rippling out around him like a wave, crashing against the helmet and rebounding. Josh winced.

“This is unbecoming conduct for two old men under truce,” Charles said quietly. “Especially in front of a young man who knows nothing of our argument. My apologies Josh.”

“That’s okay, Professor,” Josh said. Charles raised an eyebrow at Erik, who had the grace to look embarrassed.

“Answer his questions, Elixir,” Erik said. “He may have a stronger moral code than Miss Frost but he balances it with annoying persistence.”

“Uh, okay,” Josh said, tucking his hands into his pockets. Erik leant a hip against the statue and it was difficult for Charles to look away from him.

“How did you come to be with E – Magneto?” Charles asked, watching Erik’s reaction to the name from the corner of his eye.

“He – found me,” Josh said and Charles picks up ripples of images. “Scared me, really, by showing up in my house. He said –”

And Charles saw it, because Josh didn’t know any better.

 _“Who are you? What are you doing in my room?” Josh, clutching his blankets to him._

 _“We’re like you, Josh, we’ve come to free you from your prison,” the man in the helmet gestures to the bars built into Josh’s windows._

 _“My parents –”_

 _“Don’t see how special you are,” the man says, cutting him off. “We are the next step in evolution and that is why they fear us.”_

 _“I –” Josh is about to speak when a woman enters the room, training a gun on the two men._

“Moira?” Charles looked at Erik, fear lancing into his heart. Erik’s face remained impassive.

“I allowed her to live,” Erik said, coolly, and the unheard _only for you_ hung in the air between them. “Miss Frost took some of her time. Something I believe you are familiar with.”

Charles turned back to Josh, guilt replacing the fear at that once again odd note of pride in Erik’s voice. As if he approved of Charles stealing Moira’s memories.

“I went with Magneto because I couldn’t face another day not being able to leave the house,” Josh said, looking between them.

“I understand entirely,” Charles said, hearing Erik abort a derisive sniff. “What is your gift, Josh, assuming it isn’t simply a cosmetic mutation?”

“I’m – I sort of – heal people,” Josh said, hesitating over his words. Charles felt a cold ripple down his spine ( _but not all the way down_ ) that had little to do with the weather.

“Josh,” Charles said, fighting to keep his voice level. “I think it would be a very good idea for you to leave, now, and find Azazel, don’t you?”

He layered the suggestion into Josh’s mind, giving a little push to move his thoughts in the right direction. Erik moved forwards instantly, raising a hand to stop Josh.

“I think it would be better for all concerned if we had this conversation alone,” Charles said, watching as Josh turned mutely away into the darkness.

He waited until Josh was safely out of hearing before rolling himself forwards, moving as far into Erik’s space as he could.

Erik looked down as Charles forced him back against the statue, his legs bumping up against the toadstool.

“How dare you,” Charles said quietly, a cold fury he’d never experienced firsthand coiling in his stomach. “How dare you assume – what gives you the right to –”

“I only –” Erik’s hands curled into fists at his side, the metal rippling behind him. “I thought I could fix –”

“Fix what, Erik?” Charles bit out. “Me? You think I need repairing? That I am irreparably broken because I sit in this chair?”

Charles knew some of the bitterness in the words was real, remnants of his first thoughts when given his prognosis, and he wielded it like a whip, snapping across Erik’s statements.

“If I had found Elixir sooner,” Erik said and Charles didn’t stop himself from scoffing at the codename. “If I could have –”

“True – perhaps I wouldn’t have refused,” Charles said, anger still skirting the edges of his tone. “But you made your choice, when you left m- us on that beach, you lost any right to be involved in my decisions that day.”

Erik’s face was pained and he dropped to his knees before Charles, clutching the armrests of the chair. Charles resisted the urge to touch him, to smooth the pain from his face, Erik had lost his right to that as well.

“What do I have to do to make you forgive me?” Erik asked, a bald honesty in his tone that Charles had only heard from him a few times before.

All of Charles’ anger fled him at once and he slumped in his chair, allowing himself to reach out a hand and press it against Erik’s shoulder. He was sure it was only his own hopeful heart that made it feel as though Erik leant into his touch.

“My friend,” Charles said, knowing they were words he said too often. “You have had it all along.”

“But what I did –” Erik said, eyes pleading with Charles. _Do you want me to hate you so badly?_ Charles thought at him solely because he knew Erik wouldn’t hear it.

“An accident,” Charles said dismissively. “How were you to know that the bullet would take that trajectory, that I would get up again after that tremendous punching you gave me?”

“You always get up again,” Erik said, eyes dropping for a moment. Charles’ fingers squeezed his shoulder involuntarily.

They stayed that way for several long minutes, Erik’s breath heavy clouds of white in the cold air, and Charles thought of all the arguments he had prepared, all the things he had wanted to say. He found he didn’t feel like saying any of them.

“I’m sorry,” Charles said at last, causing Erik to look up in surprise. “That you can never be the man I so desperately wanted you to be. It seems I have an unfortunate habit of expecting things for my lov- friends that are not true to their characters.”

“You wanted me to be a better man, Charles,” Erik said, shaking his head. “I betrayed the faith you had in me.”

“I still have that faith, Erik,” Charles said quietly. “One day you’ll come back to us. I won’t try to change you if you do.”

Erik stared at Charles, eyes wide with something indescribable, and Charles had to turn his head away, couldn’t be the recipient of that look. Erik shifted quickly, his actions hard to follow, and then he was there, truly there, and Charles saw the helmet discarded on the snow beside them.

“Oh,” Charles breathed, brushing mental fingers over the familiar shapes of Erik’s thoughts.

“I may never be able to be the man you want me to be,” Erik said, gripping Charles’ hands in his own and curse the weather for them both needing gloves. “But I can at least give you the trust you earned from me long ago.”

Erik bowed his head and Charles stared down at hair flattened and distorted by the helmet. He lowered his own head and hesitatingly pressed a kiss to the crown of Erik’s head, feeling Erik shudder at the intimacy of the touch.

“Thank you,” Charles said, leaning back, squeezing Erik’s hands with his own. “But you’re not ready to come home yet.”

Erik raised his head slowly, his eyes rimmed red, and Charles could see his acceptance reflected in those eyes.

“You know where we are,” Charles said, pulling one of his hands free of Erik’s to cup Erik’s face for a moment. “I’ll be waiting,”

After a further moment’s silence Charles added: “And you may want to fix this statue before you leave. Poor Alice is even more twisted that usual.”

Erik’s laughter, unfamiliar and familiar at once, instantly became a memory to be cherished.

 **xxii.**

Erik dismissed Azazel and Elixir as soon as they returned to the Italian safehouse. Emma had smirked at him when he arrived and he’d barely stopped himself from snarling at her as he stalked past. _He looked well_ was all he said to Mystique, the words a promise that they would talk more the next day.

“Why have you followed me?” he asked Elixir when the young mutant hovered in the doorway of his room.

“I just wanted to say – I’m sorry about your friend,” Elixir said, hands twisting in his own shirt. “That was probably hard for you.”

“He is a fool,” Erik said, the lie tasted of ash in his mouth and, judging by the expression on his face, Elixir knew it.

“I also wanted to tell you –” Elxir hesitated, rocking back and forth on the spot. “I can’t fix what’s wrong with you. I know you’ve been thinking it, I’ve seen the way you look at me so thoughtfully, but I can’t.”

“What do you think is wrong with me?” Erik asked, fury rattling the metal fixtures of the room. Elixir swallowed and looked about him.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong,” Elixir said and Erik admired him for standing his ground. “But I’m not the one who needs to think that.”

The fixtures relaxed as Erik released the anger, finding the place between rage and serenity ( _Charles’ smiling face_ ), and he let out a breath.

“Leave me,” Erik said, lowering his head to rest it on his hands. Elixir’s footsteps moved away.

Erik built a box in his mind for his new memories of Charles and sealed them tight against Emma’s constant probing. She didn’t have any right to these memories. He buried them as well as he could, as well as he’d taught himself ( _as Charles had taught him_ ) and eased the helmet off his head.

He was free to be Erik for a little longer, Magneto wouldn’t be needed again until the New Year.


End file.
